Bring Back the Buffalo

My new friend Allen H from Sydney Australia wrote a fine poem he called Eco-Warrior, so I have made a stab at writing an eco-poem of my own as a comment. Read it and weep.

In America we killed vast herds of bison
That could weather winter storms and summer's heat
We imported domestic beef cattle 
With lesser stamina and poorer quality meat

We fenced the land where the buffalo roamed
Over plains from Canada to Mexico.
Where the vulnerable cattle drifted in blizzards
And froze at fences - bodies piled high in the snow

Now there are ranchers and Indian tribes
Raising new herds of bison to replace nature’s meat
As the climate changes and aquifers run low
Hardy bison will still give us something to eat

This is true. I used to hav in-law relatives in western North Dakota who told me about the pitiful sight of frozen dead cattle piled high at fence corners. The stronger herds of buffalo might have burst through fences and kept drifting with the wind. They have the thick fur around their faces and necks to protect them. I have read that when they want to protect their young they make a circle with their heads facing out into the wind and the young ones are safe and warmer inside the circle. Domestic cattle have had most of their protective instincts bred out of them.